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Going into Reverse 1999, I confess I used to be a little bit of a hater. I imply, I saved getting blasted with their adverts on social media, and as fascinating because the premise appeared, any advert would begin to get annoying after the fourth or fifth time you’re pressured to observe it.
Still, the adverts did their job of piquing my curiosity, so I discovered myself pre-downloading the sport and ready patiently for the server to open on October 26 at 8PM (MYT).
For those that don’t know, Reverse 1999 is a turn-based technique roleplay recreation (RPG) first launched in China earlier this 12 months. The recreation is centred across the idea of time, and extra particularly, travelling again in time.
As the title suggests, one thing occurred in 1999, dubbed the “Storm”. This incident someway messed with the time-space continuum and since then, the world has been travelling again in time from period to period.
The recreation appears to have gotten some rave critiques on Reddit, however I couldn’t assist however surprise if these critiques had been overhyped.
So, in case you’re questioning the identical factor, right here’s my candid overview of the sport. Keep in thoughts that there will likely be some plot spoilers for the primary chapter.
The mysterious, chilly open
Straight away, the sport opens to a lady with a British accent (Cockney maybe?) speaking loopy about music and information whereas making an attempt to pirate a ship. However, her plans are foiled when some enemy group referred to as the Manus Vindictae begins attacking the ship.
If this sounds random to you, you’re not alone. The chilly open of the sport made me surprise if I by accident missed some content material, however I truly like that. The confusion saved me on my toes, desirous to be taught extra about precisely what was occurring.
And I’ll say, it’s refreshing to play as not some random amnesiac or somebody who is aware of nothing concerning the world that they’re residing in. Those plot gadgets a bit of too overdone, don’t you suppose?
The plot unravels a bit extra earlier than you get to “name” your character. I put that in quotes since you’re not enjoying as some form of anonymous traveller, wanderer, or no matter, however an precise fleshed out character that goes by the title of “Vertin”, which I assume is our final title.
(I wished to call my character Claudia, however apparently there’s an in-game character with the identical title, so I surrendered.)
Vertin (the participant) is addressed with the obscure title of “Timekeeper”. Vagueness appears to be a key element of the introduction, with phrases equivalent to “arcanist” and “the Storm” and “the foundation” being thrown about.
I like that the sport trusts gamers sufficient to permit us to piece the plot collectively on this method. Because of that, I discover the world constructing and lore to be very well-done, as in, there have been no cringy monologues and lingo-dense texts making an attempt to elucidate the world the sport is about in.
Instead, the plot is cleverly unfolded to the participant via Regulus, the trouble-making, music-loving pirate the sport opened with.
As an arcanist who simply learnt concerning the conundrum with the “Storm”, Vertin and one other character, Sonetto, get to elucidate the fundamentals of the world to Regulus, concurrently briefing us (the gamers) on all main ideas of the universe, too.
Basically, we because the Timekeeper, hold observe of the “Storm”. This “Storm” is what transports everybody to a different period, and it could possibly’t be witnessed by those that aren’t arcanists.
The Timekeeper will get to witness the “Storm” because it happens, whereas different arcanists should return to a protected area within the “Foundation”. So far, nobody has been capable of courageous this storm alongside the Timekeeper, apart from Regulus, whom we’ve simply met.
I’ll cease there with the plot, nevertheless it’s been off to fairly the fascinating begin to this point. There are many extra mysteries to discover nonetheless, equivalent to what the Manus Vindictae group is, who the individuals behind the “Foundation” are, and why the “Storm” occurred within the first place.
The artwork, animation, and characters
With an anime-esque design to the characters, the artwork type of the sport total is a bit of moody in a great way, with nice use of colors and lighting.
The backgrounds are all beautiful too. The vaporwave-ish artwork it introduces throughout the “Storm” is a refreshing change, too. Maybe it’s an allusion to the late 90s glitch artwork, a clue about why issues occurred the way in which it did in 1999?
Instead of static artwork, the sport makes use of Live2D fashions of the characters in dialogue scenes, which provides immersion whereas additionally trying approach cooler. The actions are clean, and the gestures add further character and characterisation.
As for the character designs, I do suppose they’re charming, however I’m a bit of postpone by how everybody seems to be to be… a younger woman?
On the character improvement entrance, although, the sport seems to have put a good little bit of effort into fleshing them out, particularly in case you go and discover their profiles.
There’s some lore behind the gacha mechanics, tied into the plot of the sport itself. I’m somebody who doesn’t concern themselves an excessive amount of about summoning characters, so this doesn’t have an effect on how I really feel concerning the recreation total.
That mentioned, some appear to be dissatisfied by the charges, whereas others have defended it.
So far, the sport hasn’t been that beneficiant with its rewards and items, and also you gained’t be capable of pull a lot proper off the bat. I’ve solely gotten sufficient to this point to do round 15 summons. Gifts from the sport have principally been Dust and Sharpodonty for me, which is used to level-up characters.
The dialogue and voice-acting
In comparability to the plot, I discover the dialogue to be simply advantageous, nothing overly witty or memorable. The recreation lets the participant choose dialogue choices once in a while, nevertheless it’s only for the sake of interactivity. Sometimes the one possibility is one thing like “Sure”.
As for the audio design, I do just like the foley, although the background music hasn’t been as excellent. I really feel that there’s potential although—when opening one of many occasion playing cards (the Roar Juebox), it performs charming swing music characterised by the ’20s.
One of the important thing pulls of this recreation, it appears, is the British accents, for no matter purpose. The recreation’s backdrop of England has develop into fairly engaging to gamers. Some reviewers I got here throughout hold calling the accent “authentic”, which I’m not very certain about.
Given, I’m not like an accent professional so I don’t know whether or not it’s genuine or not. I can’t discover who the voice actors are, so I can’t confirm whether or not the sport truly employed native VAs to tug off the accents both.
I’ll say, I used to be anticipating to cringe extra on the accents and voice traces, however to this point, it’s been first rate, if not good.
Listening to the voice traces from another characters that I haven’t unlocked on-line, there’s fairly a variety of numerous voices. An-An Lee speaks Cantonese and has a Canto accent when talking English, Bkornblume is… German?
In any case, I do like that the voice actors don’t simply have a basic American accent, and the various accents make the world a bit extra fascinating.
You can hearken to among the voices on the official web site, beneath the solid part, to make your individual judgement.
The gameplay
Turned-based technique isn’t my favorite sort of gameplay to start with, so this a part of my overview is a bit biased.
That mentioned, there are mechanics right here that I like. Instead of simply aimlessly spamming an assault button, actions are carried out via playing cards. The similar motion playing cards stack in case you transfer them subsequent to one another (which prices motion factors), or you’ll be able to strategically play in order that comparable playing cards naturally find yourself subsequent to one another.
Each arcanist has a particular class, or Afflatus, as they name it. There’s Mineral, Plant, Star, and three others that I haven’t learnt the names of. Each class has an affinity in opposition to one other class, and a weak point to a different. It’s like a recreation of rock, paper, scissors whereby one aspect dominates over one other, and so forth and so forth.
Action sorts embody debuff, buff, and assault. There’s additionally one thing referred to as Moxie, which in case you construct up, allows you to pull an final transfer.
For somebody who doesn’t like turn-based technique, I’ll say that Reverse 1999’s gameplay has been fairly good to this point.
My final touch upon gameplay is that that is a type of video games the place the characters develop into little Chibi fashions within the motion scenes.
On the brilliant aspect, as an alternative of a static 2D struggle scene, the digital camera truly strikes out and in to offer an additional layer of dimension.
The verdict
Overall, Reverse 1999 has been actually charming, and I can’t wait to be taught extra concerning the universe. The world constructing is gorgeous, the lore is intriguing, and the gameplay is decently enjoyable for what it’s.
Some could really feel that the translated dialogue (Chinese to English) may be janky at occasions, nevertheless it didn’t damage my expertise. Others had gripes with the shortage of autobattle, however I haven’t gotten far sufficient into the sport but to have an opinion on this.
While the characters to this point haven’t managed to attraction me fully, I’m excited to fulfill extra individuals from the solid. I’ve spoilt myself a bit of bit scrolling via the solid of characters on Reverse 1999’s fandom web page, and noticed some designs I discover fascinating (right here, and right here).
Also, there’s a personality referred to as Medicine Pocket, which makes me snigger. In reality, in case you learn their authentic Chinese names, you’ll discover everybody has very literal names. Sonetto’s is definitely the Chinese phrase for sonnet, which interprets on to fourteen-line poem.
Characters apart, I’m intrigued to discover extra of the eras in addition to the completely different areas of the sport, whereas persevering with to unravel the thriller behind the “Storm”.
All that mentioned, my cell gaming habits are typically extra one thing extra senseless, normally as a boredom-killer. For a recreation like Reverse 1999 the place the plot dominates, although, I favor enjoying it on the PC.
So, sure, I’ve downloaded the sport on my PC and can’t wait to dig into it the remainder of this weekend (the info is synced to your account). The query is, will you be partaking?
- Learn extra about Reverse 1999 right here.
- Read different articles we’ve written about gaming right here.
Featured Image Credit: Reverse 1999
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